Famous People From Portsmouth UK

Site Map To My New and updated website

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:09:48 +0200

I have just created a new website for my A to Z Pets, Sports, Animals on Fine Art Prints by artists from 1400's to 1900's. At my site I also have Sports and Billiards playing funny dogs on art prints. Please see below for my Site Map.

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The Life Story of The Funny Cats and Dog Artist Louis Wain 1860-1939

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 12:50:13 +0200

Louis Wain 1860-1939 his Life and Funny Cats and Dogs

Louis William Wain was born in the London district of Clerkenwell in London on 5th. August 1860. In his early years he was a sickly child and often skipped school. He attended his early schooling at The Orchard Street Foundation school in Hackney and at The Saint Joseph's Academy, Kennington.

With reference to his family he had 5 younger sisters and his father worked as a textile salesman and his mother designed Church fabrics and carpets.

Louis Wain studied and trained at The West London School of Art ( 1877- 1880 ) and remained as an assistant teacher until he left in 1882.

After his Father's death in 1880 he had to support his mother and five younger sisters and soon after, his sick wife Emily Richardson ( His youngest sister's governess ) whom he had married in 1881. Shortly after he married her she contracted Breast cancer. He brought Emily a Kitten which they called Peter and to entertain her he started drawing Peter in humourous situations and poses. To help to support his family he became a freelance illustrator ( initially influenced by Caldecott and May ) and in 1882 he joined the staff of The illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News. He began to make his name with Dog drawings at various Dog Shows including the early British National Dog show at Crystal Palance in 1882 ( which later became kown as Crufts ). During this time his wife encouraged him to send some of the humourous cat pictures of Peter to various Magazines and Newspapers which started to make his reputation here in Britain and in America and where his humourous cat pictures were seen in Comics, newspapers and magazines.

In 1884 he was commisioned to produce his funny cat pictures in the Christmas edition of the illustrated London news. These pictures were so successful that his life would never be the same again. Alas, this was tinged with sadness as his wife died shortly afterwards, but knowing that Louis Wain had become a great success.

In the period from 1880's up to the start of the first world war he ruled supreme in cat and animal humour especially the 'Louis Wain Cat' which was recognised worldwide. The Louis Wain cats appeared in Art Prints, Comics, Newspapers, Books, Magazines, Post Cards and Annuals. The Wain cats are to be found in every human activity - from playing golf and other sports, digging up roads, Playing music, Ascot fashions, Driving cats plus lots more. ( Please Click here to visit my Louis Wain Art Prints website ).

In 1886 he joined the staff of The Illustrated London News. He was the first illustrator to work consistantly within the convention of depicting clothed and standing animals.
His anthropormorphic vision of the world soon brought him fame and as a result he was elected President of the British National Cat Club in 1891.

In 1904 Louis Wain wrote a book entitled 'In Animal land with Louis Wain' which was a great success. During 1907 he invested all his savings into various Ceramic's with pictures based on his funny cats and sent most of them to America. Alas, while crossing the atlantic
the ship capsized and all Louis Wain ceramics went to the bottom of the sea. Due to this misfortune Louis Wain went bankrupt and decided to a temporary move to the United States. He produced strip cartoons for the New York American ( 1907-1910 ) and many other american comics, newspapers and magazines.

In 1910 he returned to England and over the next few years he continued to produce books and supply pictures to various comics, newspapers and magazines.

He continued drawing fanciful cats for various newspapers and comics near the end of the first world war. During this time in 1917 he was thinking of experimenting in animation and the film was to be called 'Pussyfoot'. Alas, he decided not to persue this project and so the world lost the chance of a genius of comic cat art moving into animation. This year was a turning point in the history of Louis Wain's cats. His sister caroline died and he fell off an Omnibus and hit his head.

After he recovered from these set backs his cats became more frenzied, surreal, jagged and pointy. During 1917 he was also diagnosed as a schizophrenic which alas, stayed with him for the rest of his life. During the onset of his desease at 57, Wain contnued to Paint, Draw and Sketch cats.

In 1924 due to the economic climate and the slow recovery of GB after WW1 Louis Wain Art became less popular and he fell into poverty when his mental health deteriated and finally his family had him certified Insane and he was commited to a pauper ward at Springfield Hospital ( Previously Surrey County Asylum ) at Tooting, London. During 1925 he was discovered by a visitor to the hospital painting his funny cat pictures. The visitor exclaimed that the artist pictures reminded him of Louis Wain's famous cats. Imagine his surprise when the Artist turned to the visitor and exclaimed he was indeed Louis Wain. After the vistor told the world of Louis Wain's hospitaization, his admirers started a campaign which included prime minister Ramsey Macdonald, HG Wells and King George who helped set up a foundation which was set up to enable Wain to spend the last few years of his life in comfort in private asylums including Bethlehem Hospital in a private room where his treatment continued. Some time in the late 1920's he was sent to Saint James Fields, Southwark where he continued to paint and draw his cats. In 1930 he was transferred to Napsbury Hospital near Saint Albans where he continued to paint and sketch until the end of his days. Exhibitions of his work were held in London in 1931 and 1937. On 4th. July Louis Wain died at Napsbury hospital. He is buried at Saint Mary's Catholic Cemetary, Harrow Road, London NW10 ( next to Kensal Green Cemetary, London ) in the same buriel plot as his 5 sisters and parants.

One of the famous quotes during his lifetime was by HG Wells who said 'He invented a cat style, a cat society and a whole cat world'.

I am a collector and seller of Louis Wain 1860-1939 Funny Cats and Dogs on Artprints.

Please Click Here To Visit My Louis Wain Funny Cats and Dogs ArtPrints website

To view over 100+ of his funny Cat and Dog Art Pictures please click on my Louis Wain Art Pages.

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More Famous people who have lived in Portsmouth

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 09:47:28 +0100

* Admiral George Anson (1697 - 1762), noted for his circumnavigation of the globe
* Sir Francis Austen (1774 - 1865), Admiral of the Fleet and brother of Jane Austen
* Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 - 1930), novelist and creator of Sherlock Holmes
* Helen Duncan (1897 - 1956), last woman to be tried and charged with witchcraft in the UK
* Joe Jackson (b 1954), singer/songwriter
* John Fredrick Thomas Jane, known as Fred T Jane (1865- 1916), founding editor of "Jane's Fighting Ships"
* Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936), novelist
* Neville Shute Norway (1899 - 1960), novelist under the name of Neville Shute and aviation engineer
* H G Wells (1866 - 1946), novelist
* SIR FRANCES AUSTEN

Sir Francis Austen (1774?1865) was a British officer who spent most of his long life on active duty in the Royal Navy, rising to the position of Admiral of the Fleet. In October 1805, as commander of the HMS Canopus, a captured French ship of the line, Austen was temporarily detached from Admiral Nelson's fleet for convoy duty in the Mediterranean and missed fighting in the Battle of Trafalgar.
Austen's rapid early promotions were largely due to the patronage of the powerful Warren Hastings, who was a friend of the Austen family and was alleged to be the actual father of Frank's cousin (and later sister-in-law), Eliza de Feuillide.
Austen was brother to novelist Jane Austen, and likely the model for the character William Price in the novel Mansfield Park.
Francis Austen is buried at St Peter and St Paul church, Wymering.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Austen"
* SIR HENRY AYERS

Sir Henry Ayers (1 May 1821 ? 11 June 1897) was a Premier of South Australia who is best remembered for having Ayers Rock (now Uluru) named for him.
Henry Ayers was born at Portsea, England, on 1 May 1821. On leaving school he entered a law office, but emigrated to South Australia in 1840.

* SIR WALTER BESANT

Walter Besant 1836-1901, born in Portsmouth, English novelist and humanitarian, grad. Christ's College, Cambridge, 1859. Many of Besant's novels,dealt with social problems; among them were All Sorts and Conditions of Men (1882) and Children of Gibeon (1886). Besant was one of the most widely read novelists of the late 19th cent. He was knighted in 1895.
SIR WALTER BESANT
* ROGER BLACK (Olympic Athlete)
Roger was born on March 31st 1966 in Portsmouth. He was educated at Portsmouth Grammar School and subsequently went on to read medicine at Southampton University

Author Paul hussey @ http://www.Fabprints.com

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More Famous people who have been born in Portsmouth

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 09:43:46 +0100

* Henry Ayers (1821 - 1897), Premier of the colony of South Australia and had Ayers Rock named after him
* Walter Besant (1836 - 1901), novelist and historian
* Denise Black (b 1959), actress
* Roger Black (b 1966), Olympic medlist and TV presenter
* Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806 - 1859), engineer and creator of the Great Western Railway
* James Callaghan (1912 - 2005), former Prime Minister
* Jeremiah Chubb (1793 - 1870), inventor of the Chubb lock - his brother Charles imporved it and founded the Chubb company
* Marilyn Cole (b 1949), former Playboy Playmate and married Hugh Heffner in 1984
* Charles Dickens (1812 - 1870), novelist
* Murray Gold (b 1969), composer - provides the music for the current series of 'Doctor Who'
* Brian Howe, vocalist with Bad Company
* Paul Jones (b 1942), vocalist with Manfred Mann, solo singer and radio presenter
* Roger Kitter (b1950), actor
* Thomas Ellis Owen (1805 - 1862), architect and developer responsible for many of the buildings in Southsea
* Alan Pascoe (b 1947), Olympic medallist
* Michael Ripper (1913 - 2000), actor best know for supporting roles in Hammer films
* Peter Sellers (1925 - 1980), actor and comedian

Author Paul Hussey @ http://www.Fabprints.com

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Dogs,Cats,Birds,Horses,Wildlife ArtPrints from 1680-1950's.

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 09:13:07 +0100

Fine Art Prints of Dogs,Cats,Birds,Animals,Wildlife, Horses,Owls by various artists from 1680 up to the 1950's. Please click below to visit my Index page:

http://www.Fabprints.com

1) Hunting,Fishing and Shooting Fine Art Fabprints by various artists from 1680-1950s.

2) I have 4 Types of BILLIARDS Playing Funny Dogs on Fine Art Pictures called:
'The Hustler', Jack The Ripper', 'The Scratching Beagle', 'Hey One Leg On The Floor'.

3) The 13 other Types of Sports Playing Funny Dogs on Fine Art prints are called: 'The Golfing Slice', 'The Losing Bet', 'The Poker Friend', The Peeing Dogs', The Dogs Bath', 'The Motorbiking Dogs', 'The Driving & Drinking Dogs', 'The Partied Out Dogs', 'The Dogs Beer Drinking Competition', 'The Chess Playing Dogs', 'The Dice Playing Dogs 1', 'The Dice Playing Dogs 2', 'Football Playing and Spectating Dogs'.

4) Funny Dogs and Cats on 200+ Modern Fine Art Prints by Louis Wain 1860-1939 also various Kittens on Fine Art Prints by Victorian Artists.

5) Dog breeds on Original 1930's Fine Art prints by J. Des Clayes.

6) Dog Breeds by various artists from 1680 up to 1950's.

7) Horses and Jockeys on Fine Art Prints by various artists from 1780 up to the 1930's.

8) Wild and Pet Birds,Owls on Fine Art Prints by various artists.

9) Various Vintage Cars 1900-1913 on original Fine Art Prints from the 1950's.

10 ) Various Hot Air Balloons on Fine Art Prints from 1780 up to 1830.

http://www.Fabprints.com

All art prints are 15 1/2” X 11 3/4” in size and sold each for £14 + £8 Post and Packing per Order.
All UK Orders are sent by Royal Mail Special Next Day Delivery anywhere in the UK and 5 Day Delivery outside the UK.

*Special Offer*Buy any 4 Fine Art prints for £56 and FREE Post and Packing****

Any enquiries please E-mail or Telephone 02392-431503

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BILLIARDS PLAYING FUNNYDOGS on ARTPRINTS

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 09:09:47 +0100

I have 4 Types of BILLIARDS Playing Funny Dogs on Fine Art Pictures called: 'The Hustler', Jack The Ripper', 'The Scratching Beagle', 'Hey One Leg On The Floor'.

Please Click here to visit my Billiards And Sports Playing funnyDogs Art Pages:

The 13 other Types of Sports Playing Funny Dogs on Fine Art prints are called: 'The Golfing Slice', 'The Losing Bet', 'The Poker Friend', The Peeing Dogs', The Dogs Bath', 'The Motorbiking Dogs', 'The Driving & Drinking Dogs', 'The Partied Out Dogs', 'The Dogs Beer Drinking Competition', 'The Chess Playing Dogs', 'The Dice Playing Dogs 1', 'The Dice Playing Dogs 2', 'Football Playing and Spectating Dogs'.

Please Click here to visit Sports Playing FunnyDogs on Art

Funny Dogs and Cats on 200+ Modern Fine Art Prints by Louis Wain 1860-1939 also various Kittens on Fine Art Prints by Victorian Artists.

Please Click here to visit my Louis Wain Art pages.

All art prints are 15 1/2” X 11 3/4” in size and sold each for £13.99 + £8 Post and Packing per Order.
All UK Orders are sent by Royal Mail Special Next Day Delivery anywhere in the UK and 5 Day Delivery outside the UK.

*Special Offer*Buy any 4 Fine Art prints for £55 and FREE Post and Packing****

My home page is: http://www.fabprints.com

Any enquiries please E-mail or Telephone 02392-431503

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Louis Wain 1860-1939 Funnycats on Art

Sun, 18 Nov 2007 13:10:56 +0100

Louis Wain 1860-1939 Funny Cats and Dogs on Art

Hi I am a collector of Louis Wain art and I have one of the worlds largest collection of his work which I have on display at my website. Below is an article I have written about his life and art. I have visited his grave and I must say its pretty derelict. I hope the local London council will eventually add some TLC to his grave.

http://www.geocities.com/fabprints2/LW.html

Louis Wain was born in London’s Clerkenwell district in 1860 and eventually became an artist, selling his sketches of dog shows to the Illustrated Sporting News.His father was a textile salesman and his mother designed carpets and church fabrics. A sickly child, he was educated at the Orchard Street Foundation, Hackney, and at St Joseph’s Academy, Kennington. He trained at the West London School of Art (1877-80), remaining there as an assistant teacher until 1882. From his father’s death in 1880, he had to support first his mother and his five younger sisters. He married his youngest sister's governess, Emily Richardson, which was considered quite scandalous at the time.

Louis William Wain studied at the West London School of Art, and began his career as an art journalist. However, it was for his pictures of cats that he eventually became famous. He supplemented his income by working as a freelance illustrator (initially influenced by Caldecott and May), and in 1882 he joined the staff of the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News. He began to make his name with humorous cat drawings, primarily in the Illustrated London News, the staff of which he joined in 1886. He was the first to work consistently within the convention of depicting clothed and standing animals.From the 1880s until the outbreak of the First World War, the ‘Louis Wain cat’ was hugely popular. Appearing in prints, books, magazines, post-cards and annuals, Wain’s cats are to be found engaging in every form of human activity - from playing cricket, digging up roads, and riding bicycles, to parading the latest fashions at Ascot and making pompous after-dinner speeches at the club.

To entertain her on her sickbed, Wain started drawing their cat, Peter. Emily encouraged him to send these drawings to newspapers and magazines, and soon the Louis Wain cat was a household name, not only in Britain but also in America, where his comics and drawings of cats appeared in several newspapers.
His wife died of cancer in 1887.

Louis Wain was elected as President of the National Cat Club and wrote the book 'In Animal Land with Louis Wain' in 1904. However, he was not a good businessman, and in 1907 he was sued for debt. In the same year he moved to the United States to make a new start, producing strip cartoons for the New York American (1907-10).

After the death of his sister Caroline in 1917, he suffered a mental decline, becoming a schizophrenic, as his work clearly revealed. ‘His cats became frenzied and jagged, sometimes disappearing into kaleidoscopic shapes’ (Spalding). Wain continued drawing cats for newspapers and children’s books until he fell victim to his schizophrenia in 1917 at the age of 57 ( His sisters always believed it started when he fell off an Omnibus and hit his head ). Jagged lines of bright color began emanating from his feline subjects. The outlines of the cats became severe and spiky, and their outlines persisted well throughout the sketches, as if they were throwing off energy.

Coupled with WWI and the public dwindling interest in cats, Wain soon fell into poverty and in June 1924, he was certified insane and committed to Springfield Hospital (the former Surrey County Asylum) at Tooting.

When, in 1925, he was found in the pauper’s ward of Middlesex County Mental Asylum, an appeal was launched on his behalf, and he was transferred to a comfortable room with his paints in the Bethlem Royal Hospital, Southwark. After a campaign by admirers of his work, including the Prime Minister Ramsey Macdonald,King George & H.G.Wells the appeal reached twice the target sum in a month - a sign of the public’s continuing affection - and despite poverty and mental illness he retained for many years the position of President of the National Cat Club. A foundation was set up for him which enabled Wain to spend the last years of his life in comfort in private asylums in Southwark and Napsbury, where he continued to paint and draw his cats. The Hospital was at that time at St George’s Fields, Southwark.

In 1930 Louis Wain was transferred to Napsbury Hospital , near St Albans . He continued drawing until near the end of his life, and exhibitions of his work were held in London in 1931 and 1937. He died at Napsbury on 4 July 1939. Louis wain is buried at St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery, Harrow Road, London NW10 5NU (Next to Kensal Green Cemetary) in the same buriel plot as his family. Alas, the plot is very neglected.

Author: Paul Hussey November 2007.

I am a collector of Louis Wain 1860-1939 Funny Cats and Dogs on Fine ArtPrints. My aim is to spread the name and humour of a great Cat,Dog and Animal Artist. If you would like to see some of his work please visit my hobby website. My collection totals 150+ Pictures which are on display at my website:
** http://fabprints.bravehost.com/LW.html *

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Famous People Who were Born and/or Lived in Portsmouth UK

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 12:15:02 +0100

Famous People Who were Born and/or Lived in Portsmouth

My name is Paul Hussey and I was born in Portsmouth in 1961. The history of Portsmouth is entwined with the history of Portsmouth Harbour. Her Majesty's Naval Base Portsmouth extends almost two thousand years. The time when the Romans first recognized its strategic significance and built the fort "Portus Adurni". and now the home to 80% of the Royal Navy's surface fleet.

As so many Famous events and People were Born, Lived and worked in Portsmouth over the centuries I thought it would be a good idea to tell its story and some of the famous people's history.

While organizing a second campaign he was stabbed and killed at Portsmouth on August 23, 1628 by John Felton, an army officer who had been wounded in the earlier military adventure. Felton was hanged in November and Buckingham was buried in Westminster Abbey. His tomb bears a Latin inscription translating: "The Enigma of the World" and was also one of the most rewarded royal courtiers in all history.

Buckingham, George Villiers, 1st duke of (vil'yurz, bŭk'ing-um) [key], 1592–1628, English courtier and royal favorite. He arrived (1614) at the English court as James I was tiring of his favorite, Robert Carr, earl of Somerset. Villiers was made a gentleman of the bedchamber (1615) and, after Somerset's disgrace, rose rapidly, becoming earl of Buckingham (1617), marquess (1618), and lord high admiral (1619). In 1620 he married Lady Katherine Manners, daughter of the Roman Catholic earl of Rutland. By this time Buckingham controlled dispensation of the king's patronage, which enabled him to grant lucrative monopolies to his relatives. In 1621, Parliament began to investigate abuses of these monopolies, but Buckingham prevented action against himself (though not against his friend Sir Francis Bacon) by joining in the condemnation of his relatives. Buckingham favored the proposed marriage of Prince Charles (later Charles I) with the Infanta Maria of Spain and in 1623 went with Charles to Madrid. There his arrogance contributed to the final breakdown of the long deadlocked marriage negotiations. Buckingham, now a duke, returned to England, advocating war with Spain, which made him the hero of Parliament. He lost that popularity rapidly by negotiating (1624) the marriage of Charles with another Catholic princess, Henrietta Maria, sister of Louis XIII of France. He was also blamed for the disastrous failure (Feb.–Mar., 1625) of an English expedition, under Graf von Mansfeld, to recover the Palatinate for Frederick the Winter King; Buckingham failed to supply it adequately. By this time Charles had become king, and Buckingham was more powerful than ever, a fact that enraged Parliament. After the embarrassing failure (Oct., 1625) of an expedition against Cádiz, Buckingham was impeached (1626), and Charles dissolved Parliament to prevent his trial. The following year Buckingham led an expedition (another disaster) to relieve the Huguenots of La Rochelle, and Parliament delivered another remonstrance against him. The duke was at Portsmouth preparing yet another expedition for La Rochelle when he was killed by John Felton, a disgruntled naval officer. The romantic aspects of the duke's career figure largely in Alexander Dumas's historical novel, The Three Musketeers.

Admiral Lord George Anson ( April 23rd. 1697 - 1762 )

George Anson, 1st Baron Anson was a British admiral and a wealthy aristocrat, noted for his circumnavigation of the globe.
Sailed around the world between 1740-1744 on HMS Centurion and brought back 500,000 pounds sterling value of Gold ( Equivalent in todays money 250 Million Pounds!!) as Booty from the Spanish in South America.
George's father was William Anson of Shugborough in Staffordshire and his mother was Isabella Carrier, who was the sister-in-law of Thomas Parker, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, the Lord Chancellor, a relationship that proved very useful to the future admiral.
George Anson entered the navy in February 1712, and by rapid steps became lieutenant in 1716, commander in 1722, and post-captain in 1724. In this rank, he served twice on the North American station as captain of HMS Scarborough and of Squirrel from 1724 to 1730 and from 1733 to 1735. In 1737 he gained the command of the ship of the line, Centurion 60. In 1740, on the eve of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748), he became commander (with the rank of commodore) of the squadron sent to attack Spanish possessions in South America.

Anson was Member of Parliament (MP) for Hedon for 1744 to 1747.
In 1747, Anson commanded the fleet that defeated the French Admiral de la Jonquière at the First Battle of Cape Finisterre, capturing four ships of the line, two frigates and seven merchantmen. In consequence, Anson became very popular, and was promoted to Vice Admiral and elevated to the peerage as Baron Anson of Soberton.
Anson subsequently continued his naval career with distinction as an administrator, becoming First Lord of the Admiralty (1757–1762). Seven British warships have borne the name HMS Anson in his honour.

Jonas Hanway (1712-1786)
Born in Portsmouth & Pioneer of Umbrella.

English traveller and philanthropist, was born at Portsmouth in 1712. While still a child, his father, a victualler, died, and the family moved to London. In 172 9 Jonas was apprenticed to a merchant in Lisbon. In 1 743, after he had been some time in business for himself in London, he became a partner with Mr Dingley, a merchant in St Petersburg, and in this way was led to travel in Russia and Persia. Leaving St Petersburg on the 10th of September 1743, and passing south by Moscow, Tsaritsyn and Astrakhan, he embarked on the Caspian on the 22nd of November, and arrived at Astrabad on the 18th of December. Here his goods were seized by Mohammed Hassan Beg, and it was only after great privations that he reached the camp of Nadir Shah, under whose protection he recovered most (85%) of his property. His return journey was embarrassed by sickness (at Resht), by attacks from pirates, and by six weeks' quarantine; and he only reappeared at St Petersburg on the 1st of January 1745. He again left the Russian capital on the 9th of July 1750 and travelled through Germany and Holland to England (28th of October). The rest of his life was mostly spent in London, where the narrative of his travels (published in 1753) soon made him a man of note, and where he devoted himself to philanthropy and good citizenship. In 1756 he founded the Marine Society, to keep up the supply of British seamen; in 1758 he became a governor of the Foundling, and established the Magdalen, hospital; in 1761 he procured a better system of parochial birth-registration in London; and in 1762 he was appointed a commissioner for victualling the navy (loth of July); this office he held till October 1783. He died, unmarried, on the 5th of September 1786. He was the first Londoner, it is said, to carry an umbrella, and he lived to triumph over all the hackney coachmen who tried to hoot and hustle him down. He attacked "wail-giving," or tipping, with some temporary success; by his onslaught upon tea-drinking he became involved in controversy with Johnson and Goldsmith. His last efforts were on behalf of little chimney-sweeps. His advocacy of solitary confinement for prisoners and opposition to Jewish naturalization were more questionable instances of his activity in social matters.

Lord Admiral Nelson ( 1758-1805 )

( Nelson and his mistress Emma lived for a time in Portsmouth )

Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, KB (29 September 1758 – 21 October 1805) was a British admiral famous for his participation in the Napoleonic Wars, most notably in the Battle of Trafalgar, a decisive British victory in the war, during which he lost his life.[1] Nelson was noted for his considerable ability to inspire and bring out the best in his men, to the point that it gained a name: "The Nelson Touch". His actions during these wars meant that before and after his death he was revered like few military figures have been throughout British history.
During the 18th century, even though he had been married for some time, Nelson became famous for his love affair with Emma, Lady Hamilton, the wife of the British Ambassador to Naples and she became Nelson's mistress, returning to the United Kingdom to live openly with him, and eventually they had a daughter, Horatia. It was the public knowledge of this affair that induced the Navy to send Nelson back out to sea after he had been recalled. By his death in 1805 Nelson had become a national hero, and he was given a State Funeral. To this day his memory lives on in numerous monuments, the most notable of which is London's Nelson's Column, which stands in the centre of Trafalgar Square.

John Pounds (1766-1839)

John Pounds was born in Portsmouth on 17th June 1766. His father was a sawyer in the royal dockyard and when was twelve years old, his father arranged for him to be apprenticed as a shipwright. Three years later John fell into a dry dock and was crippled for life.

Unable to work as a shipwright, John became a shoemaker and by 1803 had his own shop in St. Mary Street, Portsmouth. While working in the shop, John began teaching local children how to read. His reputation as a teacher grew and he soon had over 40 pupils attending his lessons. Unlike other schools, John did not charge a fee for teaching the poor of Portsmouth. As well as reading and arithmetic, John gave lessons in cooking, carpentry and shoe making. John Pounds died in 1839.

Jeremiah Chubb (1793-1860) and Charles Chubb (1779-1846)
Both brothers lived and worked in Portsmouth & are Famous Chubb Locksmiths.

The name of Chubb is famous in the lock world for the invention of the detector lock and for the production of high quality lever locks of outstanding security during a period of 140 years. The detector lock was patented in 1818 by Jeremiah Chubb of Portsmouth, England, who gained the reward offered by the Government for a lock which could not be opened by any but its own key. It is recorded that, after the appearance of this detector lock, a convict on board one of the prison ships at Portsmouth Dockyard, who was by profession a lockmaker, ad had been employed in London in making and repairing locks, asserted that he had picked with ease some of the best locks, and that he could pick Chubb's lock with equal facility. One of these was given to the convict together with all the tools which he stated to be necessary, as well as blank keys fitted to the drill pin of the lock and a lock made on exactly the same principle, so that he might make himself master of the construction. Promises of a reward of £100 from Mr Chubb, and a free pardon by the Government were made to him in the event of his success. After trying for two or three months to pick the lock, during which time he repeated overlifted the detector, which was as often undetected or readjusted for his subsequent attempts, he gave up, saying that Chubb's were the most secure locks he had ever met with, and that it was impossible for any man to pick or to open them with false instruments. Improvements in the lock were subsequently made under various patents by Jeremiah Chubb and his brother Charles.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel ( 1806-1859 )

Brunel, perhaps, was the most prodigious Engineer of his time and many of his works, which challenged and inspired his colleagues during this period, have survived to our own time and some are still in use.
He was born in 1806, the son of a distinguished French engineer, Sir Marc Brunel, who had come to England at the time of the French Revolution. Unlike most engineers of the time, Isambard Brunel received a sound education and practical training - partly in France - before entering his father's office and taking full charge of the Thames Tunnel at Rotherhithe when he was only 20.
At the age of 26, he was appointed Engineer to the newly-formed Great Western Railway and acted with characteristic boldness and energy. His great civil engineering works on the line between London and Bristol, are used by today's high-speed trains and bear witness to his genius He eventually engineered over 1,200 miles of railway, including lines in Ireland, Italy and Bengal.
Each of his three ships represented a major step forward in naval architecture.
Brunel's other works included docks, viaducts, tunnels and buildings and the remarkable prefabricated hospital, with its air-conditioning and drainage systems for use in the Crimean War. Inevitably, in such a prolific career, there were setbacks and disappointments such as the atmospheric railway but he readily admitted his mistakes. Indeed he himself suffered financially by supporting his ventures with his own money.
As his sketch-books and note-books show, he concerned himself with every aspect of the projects in which he was involved and his designs were the result of calculations and experiment.
Brunel suffered several years of ill health, with kidney problems, before succumbing to a stroke at the age of 53. Brunel was said to smoke up to 40 cigars a day and to sleep as few as four hours each night.

Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

Charles Dickens was born in Landport, Portsmouth in Hampshire, the second of eight children to John Dickens (1786–1851), a clerk in the Navy Pay Office at Portsmouth, and his wife Elizabeth Dickens (née Barrow, 1789–1863) on February 7, 1812. When he was five, the family moved to Chatham, Kent. In 1822, when he was ten, the family relocated to 16 Bayham Street, Camden Town in London.
Charles Dickens published over a dozen major novels, a large number of short stories (including a number of Christmas-themed stories), a handful of plays, and several nonfiction books. Dickens's novels were initially serialised in weekly and monthly magazines, then reprinted in standard book formats.
The travelling shows were extremely popular and, after three tours of British Isles, Dickens gave his first public reading in the United States at a New York City theatre on 2 December 1867.
The effort and passion he put into these readings with individual character voices is also thought to have contributed to his death. When he undertook another English tour of readings (1869–1870), he became ill and five years to the day after the Staplehurst crash, on 9 June 1870, he died at home at Gad's Hill Place after suffering a stroke, after a full, interesting and varied life. He was mourned by all his readers.

George Meredith (1828-1909)
Famous Novelist & Poet who was born in Portsmouth.

Contributed poems to various periodicals; an associate of the Pre-Raphaelite group around Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Algernon Swinburne; published the poem Modern Love 1862; author of several novels including Diana of the Crossways 1885, which first brought him popular acclaim.

George Vicat Cole (1833-1893)

George Vicat Cole (usually known as Vicat Cole) was an important landscape painter working in the mid-19th century. In keeping with the realist mood of that period, he painted naturalistic English landscape scenes, without attempting deeper meanings or looking for rustic ideals. His speciality was the effect of atmosphere and light.
Cole was born in Portsmouth, and trained in the studio of his father George Cole (1810-1883), an eminent painter of landscapes, animals and portraits who rose as far as the Vice-Presidency of the Society of British Artists. As a young man, Cole copied prints of works of Turner, Constable and Cox, and the paintings of these men had a strong influence on him.
Cole had a difficult start as a professional painter in the early 1850s, when his pictures never sold for more than forty shillings. However, in 1854 he had his first picture at the RA Summer Exhibition, and from then on things looked up. At first his pictures were badly hung, but John Millais, seeing one of Cole's works placed where it would never be seen, interceded on his behalf. Gradually Cole's landscapes became increasingly popular, his technique more assured, and in 1870 he became ARA, the only painter to do so in that year. In 1880 he became RA, and in 1888 his work The Pool of London was bought under the terms of the Chantrey Bequest. His later work included much in the way of Thames scenes, which led him to be criticised by the Magazine of Art as having 'tied himself down to tickle the public taste with prettiness'.

Sir Walter Besant (14/08/9/06/1836-1901) Famous Novelist/Scientist and historian from London. His sister-in-law was Annie Besant.

The son of a merchant, he was born at Portsmouth, Hampshire and attended school at St Paul's, Southsea, Stockwell Grammar, London and King's College London. In 1855, he was admitted as a pensioner to Christ's College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1859 as 18th wrangler. After a year as Mathematical Master at Rossall School, Fleetwood, Lancashire and a year at Leamington College, he spent 6 years as professor of mathematics at the Royal College, Mauritius. A breakdown in health compelled him to resign, and he returned to England and settled in London in 1867. He took the duties of Secretary to the Palestine Exploration Fund, which he held 1868–85. In 1871, he was admitted to Lincoln's Inn
He published in 1868 Studies in French Poetry. Three years later he began his collaboration with James Rice. Among their joint productions are Ready-money Mortiboy (1872), and the Golden Butterfly (1876), both, especially the latter, very successful. This connection was brought to an end by the death of Rice in 1882. Thereafter Besant continued to write voluminously at his own hand, his leading novels being All in a Garden Fair (which Rudyard Kipling credited in Something of Myself with inspiring him to leave India and make a career as a writer), Dorothy Forster (his own favorite), Children of Gibeon, and All Sorts and Conditions of Men. The two latter belonged to a series in which he endeavored to arouse the public conscience to a sense of the sadness of life among the poorest classes in cities. In this crusade Besant had considerable success, the establishment of The People's Palace in the East of London being one result. In addition to his work in fiction B. wrote largely on the history and topography of London. His plans in this field were left unfinished: among his books on this subject is London in the 18th Century.
Besant was a freemason, serving as Master Mason in the Marquis of Dalhousie Lodge, London from 1873. He conceived the idea of a Masonic research lodge, the Quatuor Coronati Lodge of which he was first treasurer from 1886.

Lionel William Wylie (1851-1931)

Famous Marine Artist who Lived and died in Portsmouth. Wyllie was born into a family of artists in 1851. The rather bohemian family spent their summers on the coast of northern France. Wyllie recalled the journey by steamer down the crowded Thames from London on their way to Boulogne. When he was about 12 he went to art school in London, and in 1866 he started at the Royal Academy Schools. In 1869 he won the Turner Gold Medal for landscape. In 1870 one of the first pictures he exhibited at the Royal Academy was London from the Monument, a panoramic view of the city and the river and he began working as an illustrator of maritime subjects for The Graphic magazine. He had to reproduce detail accurately in black and white, and this discipline probably influenced him when he began making etchings in the early 1880s. Wyllie's first known etching, made in 1884, is Toil, glitter, grime and wealth on a flowing tide. It was commissioned by the print publisher Robert Dunthorne. Wyllie's Thames pictures led him to be elected an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1889. By 1907, when he became a Royal Academician, he had moved to a house at the entrance of Portsmouth Harbour. He had largely turned to painting naval and historical subjects. Nevertheless, he continued to make prints of London and the Thames to the end of his life.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ( 1859-1930 )

Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was born on May 22, 1859, in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Doyles were a prosperous Irish-Catholic family, who had a prominent position in the world of Art. Charles Altamont Doyle, Arthur's father, a chronic alcoholic, was the only member of his family, who apart from fathering a brilliant son, never accomplished anything of note. At the age of twenty-two, Charles had married Mary Foley, a vivacious and very well educated young woman of seventeen.
Mary Doyle had a passion for books and was a master storyteller. Her son Arthur wrote of his mother's gift of "sinking her voice to a horror-stricken whisper" when she reached the culminating point of a story. There was little money in the family and even less harmony on account of his father's excesses and erratic behavior. Arthur's touching description of his mother's beneficial influence is also poignantly described in his biography, "In my early childhood, as far as I can remember anything at all, the vivid stories she would tell me stand out so clearly that they obscure the real facts of my life."
After Arthur reached his ninth birthday, the wealthy members of the Doyle family offered to pay for his studies. He was in tears all the way to England, where for seven years he had to go to a Jesuit boarding school. Arthur loathed the bigotry surrounding his studies and rebelled at corporal punishment, which was prevalent and incredibly brutal in most English schools of that epoch.
During those grueling years, Arthur's only moments of happiness were when he wrote to his mother, a regular habit that lasted for the rest of her life, and also when he practiced sports, mainly cricket, at which he was very good. It was during these difficult years at boarding school, that Arthur realized he also had a talent for storytelling. He was often found, surrounded by a bevy of totally enraptured younger students, listening to the amazing stories he would make up to amuse them.
By 1876, graduating at the age of seventeen, Arthur Doyle, (as he was called, before adding his middle name "Conan" to his surname), was a surprisingly normal young man. With his innate sense of humor and his sportsmanship, having ruled out any feelings of self-pity, Arthur was ready and willing to face the world and make up for some of his father's shortcomings.
Family tradition would have dictated the pursuit of an artistic career, yet Arthur decided to follow a medical one. This decision was influenced by Dr. Bryan Charles Waller, a young lodger his mother had taken-in to make ends meet. Dr. Waller had trained in the University of Edinburgh and that is where Arthur was sent to carry out his medical studies.
The young medical student met a number of future authors who were also attending the university, such as for instance James Barrie and Robert Louis Stevenson. But the man who most impressed and influenced him, was without a doubt, one of his teachers, Dr. Joseph Bell. The good doctor was a master at observation, logic, deduction, and diagnosis. All these qualities were later to be found in the persona of the celebrated detective Sherlock Holmes.
A couple of years into his studies, Arthur decided to try his pen at writing a short story. Although the result called The Mystery of Sasassa Valley was very evocative of the works of Edgar Alan Poe and Bret Harte, his favorite authors at the time, it was accepted in an Edinburgh magazine called Chamber's Journal, which had published Thomas Hardy's first work.
Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle's first gainful employment after his graduation was as a medical officer on the steamer Mayumba, a battered old vessel navigating between Liverpool and the west coast of Africa.
Unfortunately he found Africa as detestable as he had found the Arctic seductive, so he gave-up that position as soon as the boat landed back in England. Then came a short but quite dramatic stint with an unscrupulous doctor in Plymouth of which Conan Doyle gave a vivid account of forty years later in The Stark Munro Letters. After that debacle, and on the verge of bankruptcy, Conan Doyle left for Portsmouth, to open his first practice.
He rented a house but was only able to furnish the two rooms his patients would see. The rest of the house was almost bare and his practice was off to a rocky start. But he was compassionate and hard working, so that by the end of the third year, his practice started to earn him a comfortable income.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle also became one of the first goalkeepers of Portsmouth Football club in the 1880s.

During the next years, the young man divided his time between trying to be a good doctor and struggling to become a recognized author. In August of 1885, he found the time to marry a young woman called Louisa Hawkins. He described her in his memoirs as having been "gentle and amiable."
In March 1886, Conan Doyle started writing the novel which catapulted him to fame. At first it was named A Tangled Skein and the two main characters were called Sheridan Hope and Ormond Sacker. Two years later this novel was published in Beeton's Christmas Annual, under the title A Study in Scarlet which introduced us to the immortal Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Conan Doyle much preferred his next novel Micah Clark, which though well received, is by now almost forgotten. This marked the start of a serious dichotomy in the author's life. There was Sherlock Holmes, who very quickly became world famous, in stories its author considered at best "commercial" and there were a number of serious historical novels, poems and plays, based upon which Conan Doyle expected to be recognized as a serious author.
In the autumn of 1929, in spite of having been diagnosed with Angina Pectoris, Conan Doyle went off for his last Psychic tour to Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. He was in such pain by the time he returned, that he had to be carried ashore. Bedridden from that time on, he managed to have one last quixotic adventure on a cold spring day in 1930. He rose from his bed, and unseen went into the garden. When he was found, he was lying on the ground, one hand clutching his heart, the other holding a single white snowdrop.
Arthur Conan Doyle died on Monday, July 7, 1930, surrounded by his family. His last words before departing for "the greatest and most glorious adventure of all," were addressed to his wife. He whispered, "You are wonderful."

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

Famous Author who lived & Schooled in Portsmouth.
Kipling's days of "strong light and darkness" in Bombay were to end when he was six years old. As was the custom in British India, he and his three-year-old sister, Alice ("Trix"), were taken to England—in their case to Southsea (Portsmouth), to be cared for by a couple that took in children of British nationals living in India. The two children would live with the couple, Captain and Mrs. Holloway, at their house, Lorne Lodge, for the next six years. In his autobiography, written some 65 years later, Kipling would recall this time with horror, and wonder ironically if the combination of cruelty and neglect he experienced there at the hands of Mrs. Holloway might not have hastened the onset of his literary life.
Kipling kept writing until the early 1930s, but at a slower pace and with much less success than before. He died of a hemorrhage from a perforated duodenal ulcer on 18 January 1936, two days before George V, at the age of 70. (His death had in fact previously been incorrectly announced in a magazine, to which he wrote, "I've just read that I am dead. Don't forget to delete me from your list of subscribers.")
Rudyard Kipling's ashes were buried in Poets' Corner, part of the South Transept of Westminster Abbey, where many literary people are buried or commemorated.

Herbert George Wells (1866 – 1946), known as H.G. Wells,
was an English writer best known for such science fiction novels as The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, The First Men in the Moon and The Island of Doctor Moreau. He was a prolific writer of both fiction and non-fiction, and produced works in many different genres, including contemporary novels, history, and social commentary. He was also an outspoken socialist. His later works become increasingly political and didactic, and only his early science fiction novels are widely read today. Both Wells and Jules Verne are sometimes referred to as "The Father of Science Fiction".[1]
No longer able to support themselves financially, the family instead sought to place their boys as apprentices to various professions. From 1881 to 1883 Wells had an unhappy apprenticeship as a draper at the Southsea Drapery Emporium. His experiences were later used as inspiration for his novels The Wheels of Chance and Kipps, which describe the life of a draper's apprentice as well as being a critique of the world's distribution of wealth.
In 1883, Wells's employer dismissed him, claiming to be dissatisfied with him. The young man was reportedly not displeased with this ending to his apprenticeship. Later that year, he became an assistant teacher at Midhurst Grammar School, in West Sussex (teaching students such as A.A. Milne, until he won a scholarship to the Normal School of Science (later the Royal College of Science, now part of Imperial College London), studying biology under T. H. Huxley. As an alumnus, he later helped to set up the Royal College of Science Association, of which he became the first president in 1909. Wells studied in his new school until 1887 with an allowance of twenty-one shillings a week thanks to his scholarship.

Neville Shute (1899-1960)
Famous Author/Aero-Engineer who worked in Portsmouth.

Born in Somerset Road, Ealing, London, he was educated at the Dragon School, Shrewsbury School and Balliol College, Oxford. Shute's father, Arthur Hamilton Norway, was the head of the post office in Dublin in 1916 and Shute was commended for his role as a stretcher bearer during the Easter Rising. Shute attended the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich but because of his stammer was unable to take up a commission in the Royal Flying Corps, instead serving in World War I as a soldier in the Suffolk Regiment. An aeronautical engineer as well as a pilot, he began his engineering career with de Havilland Aircraft Company but, dissatisfied with the lack of opportunities for advancement, took a position in 1924 with Vickers Ltd., where he was involved with the development of airships. Shute worked as Chief Calculator (stress engineer) on the R100 Airship project for the subsidiary Airship Guarantee Company. In 1929, he was promoted to Deputy Chief Engineer of the R100 project under Sir Barnes Wallis.

Sir Alec Rose (13 July 1908 - 11 January 1991)
was a nursery owner and fruit merchant in Portsmouth England who had a passion for amateur single-handed sailing, for which he was ultimately knighted.
Alec Rose was born in Canterbury. During World War II he served in the British Navy as a diesel mechanic on a convoy escort, the HMS Leith. In 1964, Rose participated in the second single-handed transatlantic race, placing fourth across the line in his 36 foot cutter Lively Lady, originally built of paduak by Mr. Cambridge, the previous owner, in Calcutta.
Rose then modified the boat, including the addition of a mizzenmast, to sail single-handed around the world. He attempted to start this journey at approximately the same time as Francis Chichester sailing Gypsy Moth IV in 1966, but a series of misfortunes delayed Rose's departure until the following year. The journey was closely followed by the British and international press, and culminated in his successful return in Portsmouth on July 4, 1968, 354 days later, to cheering crowds of hundreds of thousands. The following day he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, and nine days later he turned 60 years old. His voyages are detailed in his book "My Lively Lady."
On 17 December 1967, the then Australian Prime Minister, Harold Holt, drove with some family members to Port Phillip Heads, south of Melbourne, to view Rose complete this leg of his voyage. Holt then went for a swim at nearby Cheviot Beach, but the surf was rough, he disappeared from view, and was presumed to have drowned.

Callaghan of Cardiff,Leonard James Callaghan,Baron,(1912-2005)
Born and Schooled in Portsmouth.

British statesman. He was first elected to Parliament as a Labour member in 1945. As chancellor of the exchequer (1964–67), he introduced extremely controversial taxation policies, including employment taxes; he resigned when he was forced to accept devaluation of the pound. Prime Minister Harold Wilson Wilson, Harold (James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx), 1916–95, British statesman. A graduate of Oxford, he became an economics lecturer there (1937) and a fellow of University College (1938).

Callaghan served as foreign secretary (1974–76). He succeeded Wilson when the latter resigned as prime minister in 1976. Callaghan was by nature a moderate man, but his government was plagued by inflation, unemployment, and its inability to restrain trade unions' wage demands, and foundered after a series of paralyzing labor strikes in the winter of 1978–79. In the elections later in 1979, the Labour party lost to the Conservatives, led by Margaret Thatcher, Margaret Hilda Roberts Thatcher, Baroness, 1925–, British political leader.

Written and produced by Paul Hussey November 2007.

Please Click here for my hobby website where I have my Fine Art Prints Collection of Dogs,Cats,Birds, Horses,Owls,Animals,Rabbits,Lovebirds, Parrots,Budgies,Wildlife on display and for sale by various artists including Louis Wain 1860-1939 Funny Cats and Dogs.

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